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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Carrots and Sticks….

I went to the library with Ashley a few weeks ago and picked up a book called “Carrots and Sticks” by Ian Ayres. It talks about making commitments to yourself and how to keep those commitments using contracts. When you make a contract with yourself you can either motivate yourself with a “carrot” (a reward) or a “stick” a punishment. The book reviews many different studies ranging from quitting smoking and weight loss to stopping odd habits like fake sneezing.

The book actually gave me some great ideas for me to try and it gives you a public forum to make a contract with yourself at www.stickk.com. I did not make the contract on the website, but I did tell Doug which is almost as close.

I used it for two different contracts: tracking my food and a work related goal. I succeeded with both contracts. I learned you must use the correct carrot and/or stick to motivate you. I only did each contract for a week as I was not prepared to commit to a longer time. I also learned that you need to commit for longer if you want your behavior to continue for longer than a week.

I would also recommend the book if you were looking for different ways to motivate yourself, but beware of the very strong liberal/big government views in the book. I skipped a few sections to prevent from being riled up right before bed.

Have a wonderful week! Tomorrow is Doug’s Birthday so I am sure we will have a blog post soon.